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Characters on the top read “Yamada” repetitively, and on the lantern is “Yamada-ya”. The sight beyond that entrance was simply beautiful – the restaurant itself was in the middle of this great garden.

Untouched; taken as is on July 5th, 2011 with a CASIO EX-FE100. The last time I was outside of Canada prior to that was April 2009, and it felt strange not traveling anywhere for a long time considering that since 2005, after finishing my first year in university, to 2009, there was not a year that I did not go outside of Canada – 2010 was the first year after so long that I stayed in Canada the entire year – and as many know it was unpleasant – it wasn’t because of the lack of travel, although as many bad things happened that year, I also realized I hadn’t traveled for a long time.

Among the many bad experiences of 2010 my other grandfather became ill around the start of the fall. I never forgot how my earlier diseased grandfather passed away shortly after I started my undergrad (and that was also a bad year for me in many ways). At the start of 2010 I was starting my masters in architecture, but many bad things happened upon the start of that life. It was ironic that it seemed that every year I start a new degree, someone close to me would be gone – or be on the verge of death, and that in general I would have bad luck. Ultimately, in the end, I decided not to continue my masters.

My parents, of course, have told me that I shouldn’t be making such decisions based on that – and I agree, the truth was simply my heart was not into school/architecture. I’m sure from reading this a lot of grown-ups will be shocked or feeling skeptical, but there are just some things not meant for me. Yes I know, I’m a grown-up person now too – but that is why it is time for me to let myself decide for me. Many MANY people had influenced me to think otherwise, convince me or make me feel that I should do masters, or at least consider it. Eventually I myself began to believe that it may be interesting – though very soon after I started, even before the greatest of the misfortunes, I realized it wasn’t where I wanted to be… and the path I really want to follow, I have finally found the time to at least try it.

Many hard times still followed upon the time I quit masters, including the the earthquake in Japan. It was hard, but as time passed by I started climbing out of the dark hole, and started feeling better. And then one day I heard my grandfather was in a critical state, so I planned a trip right away. This grandfather was not in Japan, but after seeing him I made a trip there to see relatives on my mother’s side. Upon arrival, subway stations, and maybe other places, were dark – I think the lights were being dimmed to save electricity as a result of the aftermath of the earthquakes. It didn’t feel the same as the last time I was there. Towards the end of my time there however, things looked brighter; and this day when I saw this beautiful garden, was just perfect. It was nice to see that the light was still shining in some places.

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Oh the food was good too! Takamatsu (or the whole Kagawa prefecture per say) is famous for Sanuki udon. I was in the mood for it cold style that day as it was very hot. Earlier we were in another area of town, and the restaurant we visited first didn’t have the cold style, so that is how we ended up in this place – and it was good udon! Glad you like the piece and my story; thank you Hugh.